Hocus Pocus
by UltimateParadox
Summary: The l'Cie brand on her breast never seemed so prominent than when magic ripped through her.


**Hocus Pocus**

The Thundaga spell laced into her flesh, sending a paralytic shock through her spine and muscles. Lightning gasped harshly as the spell worked its course, legs locked to avoid crumbling to the ground after such a crippling strike. The Behemoth King's roar nearly drowned out her friends' concerned cries before the beast ultimately forgot about her and turned to try to rip Vanille asunder. The Pulsian girl would have nothing of it and danced back to avoid the hit, throwing out a barrage of multi-elemental spells.

The l'Cie brand on her breast never seemed so prominent than when magic ripped through her. Had Lightning been an Average Joe, without armor and mystifying accessories, the spell would have left her a charred, black mass of _something_ steaming on the ground, short circuited her heart to stillness. The strike would have ended her completely. But the brand reassured her that while her mind and soul had remained indisputably human, her body had changed its structure to withstand the onslaught of magics and man that would be used against her. Her skin was like armor, but still soft to the touch. It was a perk to the l'Cie constitution that Lightning was thankful for.

While armor was powerful, it could be dented or tarnished, and Lightning made a face as she craned her neck through the agony, saw the deep, blistering electric burns on her arms, smelling burnt flesh and static air. Hope must have seen them, too, because the curing magic struck her with a pleasant warmth, cleansing her skin and leaving it as pale and flawless as ever before. The spells were quick, restoring her energy and will to fight.

Her Blazefire Saber glowed with a red-orange flare as Sazh's Enfire wrapped itself around the glistening steel blade. She saw the blue, cryptic rings appear beneath the monster's great body, watched its movements grow sluggish and wide under the influence of Slow. Vanille cowered behind Snow's hunched, powerful body, extending an arm to throw a Blizzard spell into the fray as the man defended her. The blue healing magics of Mediguard shined around him.

The static, burning smell was gone, the air suddenly alive with the scent of magic, from the subtlest buff to the greatest Firaga explosive. While the thrill of battle made adrenaline course through her veins, the magic seemed to amplify the hormone pumping from her adrenal gland. It brought strength to her arms and legs, deepened her breathing, and the tingling of a spell waiting to unleash itself made her feel light.

So Lightning cast an arsenal of Ruin spells at the beast, knocking into its face with a Juggernaut's impact. One exploded in its eye and the feral monster shrieked something awful, not unlike its curing roar. It tried to retaliate, half blind, so Lightning took the opportunity to leap onto its flailing, muscular arm and dug the gunblade into its thick flesh. The beast fought harder, but Lightning only tightened her grip until she had climbed high onto the Behemoth King's shoulder.

She reached out for its thrashing head, murmured, "We don't have time for this," and moved her hand until her palm was directly in front of the damaged eye socket, oozing scarlet blood, yellow puss, and some green fluid that could have been an entirely new biological product. She cast a concentrated stream of l'Cie magic into the socket and pulled her weapon free from the monster's skin, jumped from the massive body. As her feet touched ground, the Ruinga spell initiated.

Over the slap of monster flesh hitting the ground around her, Lightning heard the collective frantic sounds of Vanille and Hope trying to cope with the grotesque execution, noted Snow and Fangs' guarded expressions, and Sazh's, "That's so wrong, but what are we gonna do about it? At least it was fast."

Time was something they were all very aware of. The hourglass was draining steadily for them - to destroy Cocoon, save it, or bury their consciousness under the foulness that was the existence of a Cie'th. "Then I guess we'd better hurry," Lightning proposed without really proposing, not waiting for an answer before she continued the trek they started across the wilds of Pulse.

There were minimal sounds of agreement. but none of protest, from the group as they followed her through the savage expanses of the Archylte Steppe. And soon enough, the magic ignited the air again, dealing the most vicious of damage and healing the most horrid of wounds. It never stopped, not for them.

* * *

**A/N: C'MON, magic is cool. Wanted to write something from Lightning's point of view, no matter how short it was. I originally was going to write something more familial with Lightning and Hope and Fang, 'cause they're my favorite battle team, inspired by Breaking Benjamin's "I Will Not Bow", but then I remembered, "At this point, all the characters are together and there's no way they'd just stand around. Get out of game mode!"**

**And thus...here. xD**


End file.
